LETTERS: Medical tests save lives; too much TV for kids
A test saves a life
In 2007 I had triple bypass surgery from which I could not seem to recover.
The doctors dismissed my symptoms as being attributable to post-surgical trauma. They told me that I should be exercising when I could barely get out of my chair.
After 10 months, a doctor who was treating me for an unrelated matter ordered a sonogram of my liver and abdomen. He said the results were a little fuzzy, and so he ordered a more expensive CT scan. My liver was fine, but the scan disclosed a 7-inch dilator that had been left in my aorta during an angioplasty leading up to the bypass surgery.
There is much discussion about doctors ordering too many tests when treating patients. This "extra" test saved my life.
Thomas Dunphy
Lake Ronkonkoma
If there are women of average risk who are anxious about mammogram results, let them wait until the age of 50 to be screened. No one is forcing them to be screened at age 40.
However, don't take that option away from those of us who would rather be safe than sorry.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 44. It would be upsetting enough to be diagnosed at age 50; it would be devastating to learn that it had been growing unchecked for six years because of the new guidelines.
One way to measure a country's merit is to look at how it treats its women. How can we stand as an example in the global community when we put millions of American women in harm's way with these new guidelines?
Donna DeMonte
Merrick
Keep kids away
from television
Messages of the mass media have an overwhelming effect on youth. The high number of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases may be an effect of sexualized media.
Many television shows geared toward teenagers contain risque and provocative topics that focus on sex as a fun activity that cool kids take part in. These shows portray one side of sex, and forget to include all the risks and dangers.
Is there anything we can do to protect our youth? Since we can't do much to change what is aired on television, we can involve adolescents in alternate activities that will keep their creativity flowing and their minds focused on more positive messages.
Get children away from the screen and into a fun, educational environment. After all, today's youth and young adults are tomorrow's parents, leaders and citizens.
Nicole Fonovich
East Meadow
